British Government refuses to condemn Chinese one-child policy

Current status: protests to Margaret Beckett, please. This story calls for careful reading: the one-child policy is itself an infringement of the human rights of Chinese citizens, to a normal family life free of coercive interference. The British Government can only bring themselves to condemn the inevitable fate of Chen Guangcheng, who has campaigned against the policy, on the grounds that his trial was unfair.

Beckett has no email address! Write to her: Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

From SPUC: The British Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, has criticised the treatment of Chen Guangcheng, the lawyer who has campaigned against forced abortion and sterilisations in China. "I am deeply concerned by the news that the human rights defender, Chen Guangcheng has had his sentence upheld at appeal. The failure to uphold international fair trial standards in this case... suggests a backward step in China's progress towards building the rule of law. The UK has raised its concerns over the handling of Chen's case with the Chinese authorities on several occasions" The Foreign and Commonwealth Office describes the charges against Chen as "politically motivated by his highlighting of maladministration of the One Child Policy". [Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 15 January] SPUC comment: the UK government's statements seem calculated to avoid upsetting the Beijing regime, or criticising the one-child policy itself, which the Blair government supports.